Is the Marker the Message? The Role of Some Scalar Adverbs in the Processing of a Public Health Appeal and Its Effectiveness

Abstract

In this study, we argue that studies in persuasive communication have been undertaken until now without considering enough the main ideas of pragmatics as regards the communication process and the use of language. In particular, we suggest that in this area of research, it could be relevant to ponder the processes involved in the message processing by taking into account the “inferential” and “intentionalist” paradigm of communication. To support our claim, we propose an experimental study designed in the area of health communication which consists in investigating the impact of some linguistic items defined as scalar adverbs on some attitudinal outcomes and the message elaboration. It shows that the introduction of such adverbs in an epidemiological information message increases the self-risk perception, the perceived relevance of the prevention programs, and as regards the message processing, reduces the cognitive elaboration of its content for the benefit of its communicative intention. The persuasiveness of such linguistic items in a preventive message as well as the conditions under which they are likely to act as peripheral cues are addressed in the conclusion of the study.

From Contact Prevention to Social Distancing: The Co-Evolution of Bilingual Neologisms and Public Health Campaigns in Two Cities in the Time of COVID-19

“…Barry et al (2018) also demonstrated that a small change in the name of drug intervention sites could enhance public support for harm reduction interventions to control the ongoing opioid epidemic. Coppola and Girandola's (2016) experimental study proved that adopting scalar adverbs in epidemiological information messages can facilitate the readers' cognitive processing of the designed communicative intentions in a preventive program. Other scholars have focused on how infectious diseases such as SARS, Ebola, and the flu are socially constructed in newspapers by deploying linguistic resources, such as conceptual metaphors (Baehr, 2006;Chung, 2011;Dobric & Weder, 2016;Wallis & Nerlich, 2005), "othering" mechanism (Washer, 2004), lexis choice, foci of attention, and tone of writing (Chung, 2011), demonstrating that such linguistic choices often reflect ideological concerns, as well as social and cultural values.…”